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Tuesday, December 16, 2014

How you can sell your business without being in sales

By Aaron S. Robertson

We all know people. Outside of work, we run into/hang out with people all the time – family, friends, classmates, managers and owners of restaurants and retail establishments we like to frequent, professionals we do business with on a regular basis (doctors, bankers, attorneys, insurance and investment representatives, etc.), and so on.

As an employed person, it is possible to sell your company’s services, or at least start the conversation and plant a seed.

You may not be in an official sales capacity at your employer. You may have absolutely no formal sales or marketing experience in your background. You may not know all of your company’s pricing models, figures, and industry jargon. And all of this is totally fine.

But what you do have is a deep, first-hand understanding of what your business has to offer your clients or customers. You know what your business is all about, because you are on the front lines, day in and day out. So you can speak very intelligently on the subject of what your firm offers when you’re out and about outside of work.

That being said, don’t be afraid to strike up a conversation when you run into someone who may benefit from your company’s products or services. Keep an eye and ear out for any needs or goals your connections bring up to you in conversations that may align with what your firm has to offer. And if you can’t answer a specific question or concern, offer to refer that person to someone else in your company (i.e. someone actually in the sales department) who can.

But being your friends, family, and other acquaintances, you’re most likely the very first contact that they have with your company. So give it your best, be sincere in trying to help them, and get them in touch with the right people if the opportunity arises.

You may not be in your company’s sales department, but everyone in the company can certainly pitch in (and everyone has a genuine stake in doing so) when it comes to strengthening the firm’s bottom line, which means job security for all.